A ‘Blind’ Review

Let us look at an odd find, a show we can probably both take on as a filler for when your supposedly busy schedule in this year’s Fall Season accidentally becomes free.

Say hello to Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume!

 

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Type: TV Series
Genre(s): Sports
Source of adaptation: Web Manga
The time it was aired: Fall 2016,  October 4 to December 20
Studio responsible: Kinema Citrus

 

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Here, have some of Crunchyroll’s synopsis:

The world of middle school girls’ ping pong enters an age of heated rivalry as the throne at its apex is surrendered…

Tsumujikaze Koyori, a girl who loves ping pong, has just transferred to Suzumegahara Middle School. Along with her friends who strive to be the national champions, can Koyori bring the winds of change to the school?! The curtain is about to rise on a scorching hot tale of girls who love ping pong!

 

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Story and Plot

 

Say hello (again) to cute girls doing… cute things?
I wouldn’t actually believe that playing a sport is cute, but you know what’s cute?
Whenever the characters are not playing sports!

 

Though, I do have to give it to the original creator for a quite an initial story. Transferring to another school just so you can nurture your skills in sports is rare, but it has happened. The change comes with new challenges, especially new friends because here we are watching a show with a story.
And this is where I think it all gets nullified; all of the seriousness and misguided premise were easily dissolved as the plots lean more towards the girls derping in and out, which can be considered a real gem if you happen to be in love with relaxing shows that sometimes exaggerate comedy. Think of Gabriel Dropout angels and demons playing ping pong for life, yeah, that.

 

Characters

 

The range — from A to D cup!

 

Do you want to guess on who is the protagonist?
It’s easy, the only hint you would ever need is that her physique is always going to start underwhelming, whether it is in size or shape, but not too extreme. Making your protagonist an average Joe is an extremely popular shorthand way of making every other characters instantly worth looking at. It is also one of the earliest hints that the show is not aimed at shounen demographic.

Each and every one of them have distinctive enough features, though I smell one dimensional characters here because, again, this show isn’t anything special so even having the characters section down as average is the worst it can be.

 

Art and Animation

 

Straight outta Kinema Citrus, can you actually believe that for the studio, this TV series literally precedes Made In Abyss? If you have seen the latter then I don’t even think that you should doubt these guys in visual department. Loli design is their forte; explosive animation is their weapon. When the girls aren’t doing anything thrilling, the motion is well reserved since even the studio knows that they aren’t making a serious slice of life anime focusing on the grounded reality.

However, when it is time for action…

Visual wise, this is practically Ping Pong the Animation in colors, yo!
Do you see now, the power of budget?

 

Fluff Quality is over the moon~

 

The show can easily be grouped among slight ‘marshmallow’ ones in your anime index. Light-hearted comedies are more than welcoming, it should be able to make you relax once in awhile, unlike the poor girl below…

 

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Hey guys! I cannot review the sound section of this show because…

 

As the title suggests, this is actually a deaf review in more ways than ‘blind’. But we sure had a crack at this show because none of us have watched it but all are more than interested in doing just so!

And yes, WE, not I. This is a fun collaboration with other lovely bloggers alike. What we did were to have each of us write out a nonsensical review using only a few pictures and GIF’s as clues. At the end we would see as to whose review is the most accurate. You be the judge!

Here I urge you to check out others’ take on the blind review:

Irina’s

AstralGemimi’s

TPAB’s

 

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Now that it is done and dusted, I’m off to watch the show for real because I am actually, hugely interested in it!

• Random Fun